Well, you pick a lot of bright and vibrant tones in your color pieces, but I have noticed that you could make your light and shade more dynamic--that's what really makes things "pop". I had trouble with this for a long time--here are some pointers that helped me.
For shading, I've noticed that you often just use a grey transparent shadow overlay, or a slightly darker/desaturated version of your flats. I just happened to notice that your Trick or Treat deviation seems to use this technique. For example, in this piece, I just used a "Multiply" layer and used only various shades of grey to indicate shade. I don't think it looks bad, but it's how I used to do things, and it just lacks punch and dynamic, y'know?
Some of my arty friends pointed out that I wasn't making the best use of color. Look at your hand, for instance--it isn't just one flat flesh tone with grey shadows. It's probably got reds and yellows and browns and even blues. Do a Google Image Search for "sunlight" and notice how warm and bright objects look in the light, and how shadows turn bluer in shade. Light and shade isn't just about darkness--it's also about hue and saturation.
So lately I've been trying to make deep, saturate-y shapely shadows and bright, luminous lights.
Contrast my old, flat-looking work to one of my latest pictures: Lizard and Candle. This is by no means the best picture in the world, but it's a step up for me.
Pick out orange on a color wheel and see how it's nestled between red and yellow. Now take a look at the ground beneath the lizard, for instance--see how the ground beneath him is kind of orange? It retreats back toward darker, muted red/browns in the shadows, but it surges toward yellow in the light.
Now take a look at the lizard himself - he's kind of teal. Pick out a shade of teal on the color wheel. It's flanked by green and blue, right? Well, see how the lizard is greener toward the light and bluer away from it? Human eyes are calibrated for yellow sunlight, so if you're trying to portray a natural light source, you can fool the eye by making your lights warmer and your shadows cooler.
It's REALLY hard to get right - I'm still struggling myself, and I definitely don't do it right all the time. It's also not foolproof, because light and shade come in many different colors. But practice, practice, practice! One thing that helped me was to just practice with photographs of real-life, everyday things, and try to digitally "paint" my own versions of them with natural light and shade. The best way to get a feel for anything is to draw from life.
You're doing great and this is an amazing picture. I love it
Starting Friday, Nov. 13th, we'll be having a 30% off discount on all greeting cards! That's the biggest prints product discount we've offered to date. Read on for tips to make the most of this sake and earn extra cash for the holidays!
Our new suddenly doujinshi circle: カポリット屋 will release another collaboration title next year and since we already decided that our next fandom would be focusing with Sweet Pool title~ We decided to make a fan art contest in order to celebrate and encourage you guys to keep supporting us~XD
Daily Literature Deviations is a group that is dedicated to bringing literature to the forefront of the deviantArt community. We attempt to accomplish this by daily featuring Literature artists from around the community that deserve the recognition, but are not getting it.
Each day we will feature 5 deviations from the Literature categories in a News Article. In order to support the artists that we feature, we ask that you the news article as well as check out the individual pieces. We understand that each day you may not be able to check out each and every one of the pieces, everyone has their own things going on. We just ask that you make an attempt to help support the growing Literature community.
Have you ever wondered what something meant as far as Photography goes? Things like "Cable Release", "AEB", "C-41", "Neutral density filter", and "Polarizer"? The photonotes.org Dictionary of Film and Digital Photography is one place to stop and get it all answered. This is quite a valuable resource that explains in depth what a photography term means, and will help those understand who might not know what something is.
The Deviousness Award is an accolade which is traditionally handed out on the 1st of every month to one trully outstanding deviant. `Cyantre is one of the most helpful deviants within our community. With a positive attitude and a resourceful mind, you can always find him providing support and encouragement to those in need. Always looking for ways in which he can get more involved in our community, John's positive presence is to be aspired to. A well respected poet, John is a must-have on your deviantWATCH to make sure that you don't miss out on your dose of community inspiration. It's with great pleasure that the Deviousness Award for November 2009 goes to... Read More
Comments
DUN WORRY JIM!!!!! BUMS GROW BACK!!!
--
Like the kind of cup of coffee that you get with a doughnut
'Cept I never get the doughnut I just have the cup of coffee
--
Caffeine, a few days without any sleep, maybe some hard liquor. It's once I start wildly chain-smoking that I know I've hit that 'sweet spot'.
Oh my GAWD. I love you
Man, I wish I could get colors as good as you. I can never figure the damn things out and my chars always look dull and washed out. ><
--
Caffeine, a few days without any sleep, maybe some hard liquor. It's once I start wildly chain-smoking that I know I've hit that 'sweet spot'.
For shading, I've noticed that you often just use a grey transparent shadow overlay, or a slightly darker/desaturated version of your flats. I just happened to notice that your Trick or Treat deviation seems to use this technique. For example, in this piece, I just used a "Multiply" layer and used only various shades of grey to indicate shade. I don't think it looks bad, but it's how I used to do things, and it just lacks punch and dynamic, y'know?
Some of my arty friends pointed out that I wasn't making the best use of color. Look at your hand, for instance--it isn't just one flat flesh tone with grey shadows. It's probably got reds and yellows and browns and even blues. Do a Google Image Search for "sunlight" and notice how warm and bright objects look in the light, and how shadows turn bluer in shade. Light and shade isn't just about darkness--it's also about hue and saturation.
So lately I've been trying to make deep, saturate-y shapely shadows and bright, luminous lights.
Contrast my old, flat-looking work to one of my latest pictures: Lizard and Candle. This is by no means the best picture in the world, but it's a step up for me.
Pick out orange on a color wheel and see how it's nestled between red and yellow. Now take a look at the ground beneath the lizard, for instance--see how the ground beneath him is kind of orange? It retreats back toward darker, muted red/browns in the shadows, but it surges toward yellow in the light.
Now take a look at the lizard himself - he's kind of teal. Pick out a shade of teal on the color wheel. It's flanked by green and blue, right? Well, see how the lizard is greener toward the light and bluer away from it? Human eyes are calibrated for yellow sunlight, so if you're trying to portray a natural light source, you can fool the eye by making your lights warmer and your shadows cooler.
It's REALLY hard to get right - I'm still struggling myself, and I definitely don't do it right all the time. It's also not foolproof, because light and shade come in many different colors. But practice, practice, practice! One thing that helped me was to just practice with photographs of real-life, everyday things, and try to digitally "paint" my own versions of them with natural light and shade. The best way to get a feel for anything is to draw from life.
You're doing great and this is an amazing picture. I love it
--
Caffeine, a few days without any sleep, maybe some hard liquor. It's once I start wildly chain-smoking that I know I've hit that 'sweet spot'.
--
Caffeine, a few days without any sleep, maybe some hard liquor. It's once I start wildly chain-smoking that I know I've hit that 'sweet spot'.
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